Chapter Text
The last few minutes had been tense. Rios had immediately gone to the smuggling compartment; was still inspecting it, in fact. The large phaser rifle was propped on his knee, still making the occasional humming sound. Narek wasn’t sure that it was set to stun.
The rest of the crew had separated to search different parts of the vessel. If he didn’t move soon he would lose his chance and Rios would likely be the one to find him. Narek held his breath, waiting for the moment Rios was at his most distracted. The captain ducked his head into the smuggling compartment. Now!
Narek silently manoeuvred himself around the large crate. A ladder to the upper deck was only a few steps away. As he reached out to grasp the handhold, he heard a clickwhine from above. He looked up, into the face of Soji, and the barrel of a phaser.
“Give me one reason I shouldn’t pull this trigger, right now.”
Narek stepped slowly back, raising his arms in the human gesture of surrender. “It would be very messy?”
“Not good enough”. Soji raised an eyebrow and Narek could have sworn he saw her finger begin to tighten on the trigger when he heard a voice from behind her.
“Wait.”
Picard, thank the powers. No one else possessed that same combination of gentle gravitas and companionable firmness.
Soji hesitated for half a breath, before moving the phaser to a slightly less aggressive angle. Narek knew it could be raised again so fast he would never know what had ended him. She glared at him, the distrust, fury and…shame?...almost palpable.
Narek cleared his throat. “Thank you, Admiral. I wonder-”
Picard held up a restraining hand. “Young man, do not make the mistake of assuming that I am your friend. While I do indeed believe that all life has a right to self-determination, that does not mean I agree with the path that you or your people have chosen. And do not misunderstand me; my primary objective is to prevent Soji from making a mistake she may come to bitterly regret.”
Narek looked up into the face of the elderly human. He hadn’t understood before why so many regarded him as a force, even now. He had never fully grasped the awe with which some of his superiors would speak of this man, at least in private.
He could see it now. This man had known power. Had held life and death in his hands. Had stood in judgement of not just his own species, but others, and had not been found wanting.
For the first time in a long time, Narek began to wonder if he might have walked himself into a situation he couldn’t talk his way out of.
-o0o-
It had been a while since she had needed to hack her way into a Federation vessel, but Narissa felt the skills coming back to her as if it had been yesterday. Thankfully, the back doors that Oh had had programmed into the last few software updates were still open. The Federation were, as usual, far too trusting and far less cunning than her own people.
She had heard the sounds of the synthetics and the Starfleet crew discovering the assault on the golden-skinned thing and knew they had already begun to look for her. It had, it appeared, had some difficulty in describing her to its fellow machines, and Narissa had gathered that it had had some kind of malfunction. It seemed that these things were not immune to an overload of sensation, or the consciousness of helplessness. Good. Let it know fear. It would know more before she was finished.
The rear door of the shuttle began to slowly and quietly descend. As soon as the gap was large enough, Narissa was through, hitting the emergency door close button.
She would be off this planet and at warp before they figured out she had stolen their shuttlecraft.
-o0o-
Narek closed his eyes then opened them again, keeping his hands at shoulder height. “I understand. Neither of you has any reason to trust me. I wouldn’t trust me. But I swear to you, I am not here to cause trouble.”
Picard smiled, but the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I don’t doubt it. And yet, even without exacerbation, your mere presence aboard this vessel is a great source of trouble for us all.”
“We should space him.” Narek didn’t turn or flinch, but still felt his heart beat a little faster at the sound of Captain Rios’s voice behind him. He could see from Soji’s expression that she had registered his surprise as well.
Picard held his hand up again, placating. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”
Narek heard running feet, and the rest of La Sirena’s crew burst into the room. Again he felt the threatening presence of many weapons trained unwaveringly on him. As he looked between the members of the crew, he could see that there was very little sympathy for him between them.
“Whether you think so or not, this is my ship and he is not staying.”
“We could space him?” Raffi had been the first to arrive, and looked uncharacteristically grim.
Elnor looked at her, eyebrows raised. “That is out of character for you.”
“You’re damn right. But you know he would do the same to us if given half the chance.” She scowled. “You were there when his people flushed the Borg drones out into space! You saw what that did to Seven.”
Elnor nodded. “Ah, of course, yes. And since you and she are now engaged in a romantic relationship you don’t want to do anything to risk that, so you want to make the problem of him,” the young Romulan gestured with his sword, “go away as quickly as possible without allowing his presence to put a strain on either of you.”
Raffi gaped at him then said, “You know, this absolute candor thing can get a little tiresome.”
Elnor nodded. “So I’ve been told, many times.”
“Oh, no, I don’t think we should space him.” Agnes Jurati, the little cyberneticist, had put down her weapon and was looking imploringly at Rios. “We don’t know how much he knows, or who he might have been in contact with, or anything. There could be Warbirds on their way already.”
The xB shook her head. “No, I don’t think he would have risked a transmission.” She gave the scientist a pointed look. “He could have some kind of passive tracker inside him. We should have Emil take a look.”
Jurati paled slightly and bit her lip. Rios and Raffi both looked at the xB, both speaking at the same time, over each other.
“Seven, that was a little harsh…” “Hey! Enough!...”
“Stop!” Soji held her hands to her head, eyes tightly closed, “What gives you all the right to think you get to make a decision about what we should do with him? He hasn’t done anything to any of you! He tried to kill me! Multiple times! He tried to kill my entire family! My entire species!”
The room fell silent. Narek stared at Soji, willing her to look at him. She did.
“There’s only one thing we can do. I don’t like it any more than any of you.”
-o0o-
Getting the computer to respond to her commands had been laughably easy. She had managed to find records of La Sirena’s last transmission to Ghulion IV, as well as their departure log and planned route out of the system. There weren’t many places they could be going on a heading like that, and knowing who had shipped out with them it seemed likely they were heading in the direction of Fenris.
Narissa turned to the navigational controls, programming in the information that would take her off this rock and out of the system. As she input the last instruction and pressed the button to engage, the screen went dead. The lights inside the shuttle sparked out. She heard the thunk of the shuttle door lock engaging.
The viewscreen at the front of the shuttle lightened, and she could see some of the Starfleet crewmembers standing around the ship. One of the humans, a short dark-skinned woman, strode forwards and gestured. She pressed at the combadge on her chest and Narissa could hear her voice coming out of a small speaker on the conn of the shuttle.
“Whoever you are, you should know that we have this shuttle surrounded. This planet and its people are under the protection of the United Federation of Planets. This shuttlecraft is the property of Starfleet.” The woman looked at a small wrist holo and said, “From the information the shuttle recorded before you activated its lockdown, it appears you were using a Romulan back door sequence. To that I can only say, you are under arrest for assault, for attempted theft of a shuttlecraft, and for being part of a prohibited organisation.” The woman paused again, then, smiling slightly and speaking with obvious relish continued, “You should also know that the Romulan Free State has banned the organisation known as the Zhat Vash, and that all members of said organisation found within the border of Free State territories are to be returned to Rator III for investigation and trial.”
Narissa stared at the viewscreen, mind racing. She was trapped. She let out a howl of frustration and rage and slammed her fist into the speaker.
She was still sitting in the pilot’s chair when the Starfleet crew entered the shuttle, and didn’t fight them when they shackled her and led her out towards their headquarters.
-o0o-
Narek hadn’t thought La Sirena was even big enough to have a brig, let alone one this sophisticated. He paced in the small room, looking occasionally out at Elnor, who sat meditating in the centre of the room.
He had felt the slight shift in the inertial dampening field when the ship had changed course. He wasn’t sure where they were going, but it was unlikely to be good for him.
“Elnor.”
The freak looked up at him, the strange air that marked him as one trained by the Qowat Milat adding an odd, out-of-placeness to his movements.
“Narek. You intend to try and persuade or bluff your way out of your cell.”
Narek huffed a laugh. “No. What would be the point? Where would I go?”
Elnor shrugged. “I don’t think that would matter to you as much as that you would be free.”
Narek looked at him shrewdly. “You might be right. But no, I don’t intend on a prison break. I just wondered if I might be able to have something to drink? Or perhaps some food? I don’t think I’ve had anything substantial since we left the planet.”
Elnor quirked an eyebrow at him. “I am Romulan, you know. I am aware of precisely how long one of our species can go without food or water. I also know you have had Tal Shiar training, and also perhaps Zhat Vash training, and that it is unlikely you would be in desperate need of food or water for some time yet.”
Narek snarled, banging his hands on the forcefield in front of him. “So, you intend to torture me? Make me suffer until I spill all of my non-existent secrets?”
Elnor shrugged again. “No. I am simply going to watch you. If you come to need food or water, I will provide it, but I will not do anything that might risk the safety of this ship or those aboard until I must.” He gestured towards the cage of force surrounding Narek. “In case you were wondering, feeding you is included in the risky things.”
Frustrated, Narek thrust his hands through his hair. He turned away, ready to throw himself back onto the small, uncomfortable bunk. As he did, he heard the door to the brig open. Rios, Seven and Raffi entered, phaser rifles drawn and aimed in his direction.
Rios spoke. “Computer, deactivate program Brig 1.”
Narek stared as the walls around him melted away to reveal a holosuite. “A hologram?! Your brig is a hologram?”
Rios grinned at him and gestured with his phaser. “This way, cabrón, and don’t try anything exciting.”
Elnor moved around to stand behind him, whispering as he passed “Choose to live.”
They took him to the transporter chamber, where Picard and Soji were already waiting. Picard gestured for him to step onto the transporter pad. Soji stared at him, arms wrapped around herself. The four armed crewmembers surrounded him, Seven and Raffi facing outwards, Rios and Elnor facing towards him. Narek felt like a trapped animal, but he couldn’t deny to himself that their caution was at least somewhat warranted.
As Picard stepped to the console, Soji spoke, voice taut with raw emotion. “You hurt me. You took my heart and destroyed it, before I’d even had a chance to figure out what it was. I don’t forgive you, and I won’t forget you, but I can’t let you make me become something I’m not. If you live, don’t come looking for me. I can’t promise I’ll be able to stop myself a second time.”
He could see her eyes begin to brim with unshed tears as the transport took effect.
-o0o-
She sat in the small, dark room. She hadn’t moved for hours. The guard had tried provoking her, first to speech, and then to action. She didn’t respond. Whether it was to refuse them the satisfaction of seeing her beaten, or because she was unable to process her own defeat, she wasn’t entirely sure. It had been a day, perhaps a day and a half, since they had marched her in here. It was colder than she would have preferred, a temperature more suitable for humans.
She heard a disturbance at the door of the prison. Voices that sounded familiar. For the first time, she raised her head. So, he hadn’t escaped either.
As they locked her brother into the neighbouring cell, she watched. He didn’t look in her direction. He looked broken. At least one member of the crew of La Sirena, on the other hand, had noticed her. She saw the xB’s eyes flick wide open in surprise. Seven walked towards the door of her cell – a depressingly physical door, which could be neither hacked nor disrupted into letting her out – and stared down at her.
“You lived. How disappointing. I hate leaving a job unfinished.”
Narissa did nothing but glare, saving her energy for the only thing that mattered.
Seven turned away, dismissively, and walked out of the small prison. The curly haired woman followed her with her eyes, then whispered something to the tall, tanned human and ran out after her.
After locking Narek in his cell, the two men from La Sirena and the guard left the room.
Narissa jumped to her feet and tried to speak, her voice coming out an unfamiliar croak. “Brother dear. I do hope you have some thoughts on how to get us out of here.”
Narek’s head whipped around, registering her presence for the first time. He snorted. “I see they caught you too. No, I don’t have any thoughts at all. It’s your turn. And you’d better think them fast, because they’ve sent a message to the Free State senate to come and get us, and if they do we’ll be spirited away to some Tal Shiar black site and likely never see the light again.” He paused, letting his head drop back against the wall of the prison. “Frankly, I don’t even know if that’s a bad thing any more. I’m done being the one that comes up with your ideas for you, Narissa. Get yourself out of this mess. No pressure.”